


Bargains

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: The Lord and Ladies of Hell [6]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feels, First Kiss, Fluff, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-05 04:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6689068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chloe overhears more than she ever expected to, and tells Lucifer the one thing he'd never imagined he'd hear. (An altered version of a pivotal scene from 1x13, along with post-ep scenes)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm considering putting at least one more chapter on this, possibly more. Let me know at the end if you think I should.

Chloe hadn’t flinched at the sound of a gunshot in years, but when Malcolm fired the noise hit her like a punch in the stomach. For a brief second there was no sound from Lucifer, and Chloe fought down the wild hope that his old claims of invulnerability were somehow suddenly true. She’d accept whatever wild story he had to tell, as long as it meant he was okay.

Then she heard the sound of a body falling.

Her vision swam, pain tearing through her chest. Her mind, however, was already moving, reminding her that she only dared call 911 after she'd taken care of Malcolm. If she could do it before Lucifer bled out, there was a painfully small chance he would get out of this alive.

She forced herself to move carefully, taking off her shoes so her steps would echo less. Malcolm stayed with Lucifer awhile to gloat, angled in almost the worst way possible for Chloe, but she took advantage of every opportunity. She couldn’t look at Lucifer, couldn’t let herself dwell on the slowly widening pool of red next to his body and the hope that seemed to be dwindling by the second.

Chloe started to move faster when Malcolm disappeared, heading in the direction she’d first run to hunt her. She was just a row away when she heard Lucifer speak suddenly, his voice echoing perfectly in the hangar despite how weak and shaky it was. She told herself not to listen – for all their sakes, she couldn’t let herself get distracted – but it was impossible for the words not to sink in.

_I’ll be the son that you always wanted me to be. I’ll do as you ask, go where you want me to. In exchange… all I ask… is that you protect Chloe…._

Then it stopped. It all stopped, including the little gasping breaths that meant Lucifer had been holding onto life for a few more precious seconds. There was only silence, far, far too much of it, and Chloe felt like something inside her physically broke in half. But she was a cop, and her feet kept moving. She heard footsteps moving, as if Malcolm finally realized he'd been going the wrong direction, and she took a deep breath and made a run for the gun. The footsteps quickened, coming closer....

"Hello, Malcie."

The sound of Lucifer's voice galvanized her more than a kick. She grabbed the gun, whipping around just in time to see Malcolm against the shelving. He moved forward, shoulder shifting, and Chloe had been a cop too long not to recognize a criminal about to fire. All his attention was on Lucifer, his obvious target, and in the back of Chloe's head all she could hear was her own scream of wordless denial.

She raised her gun and put enough bullets into Malcolm to make damn sure he didn't get up again.

Lucifer walked toward Malcom, and she heard a quiet conversation with Malcolm's dying breaths. At the moment, though, there was only one thing Chloe cared about.

"Trixie! It's safe to come out!"

Slowly, Trixie stepped out from where she'd been hiding. "Mommy, is it over?"

Chloe dropped to one knee, holding out her arms. "Yeah, Baby, it's over." Trixie ran into her arms, and Chloe held on with all the strength of her body.

They separated only when Lucifer walked toward them, an oddly soft expression on his face. "Forgive me if I don't join in—" Before he could finish the sentence, Trixie had run over and flung her arms around Lucifer. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, just like he always did, but his hand rested lightly on top of her hair as he cleared his throat. "It appears I've been outvoted."

All Chloe could do was stare at him, the sound of his last breath echoing in her head. She could see the blood on his shirt, the hole where the gunshot had gone through, and the faint smear on the side of his jaw where he hadn't wiped it away completely. But here he was, standing in front of her completely healthy.

The relief inside her was so huge she could barely breathe.

Somehow, though, she had enough voice to shout at him. "You died!" She crossed the tiny distance between them, smacking him hard in the chest. Her eyes filled again, remembering. "I _heard_ you die!"

Trixie looked up at her mother in alarm, pulling away from Lucifer with a look that suggested she was considering defending him.

Lucifer himself, however, didn't seem to mind in the slightest. "I did. I got better." He sounded so casual about it, expression only shifting when he saw the tears in her eyes. "We'll have a long talk about all of it, I promise. But I received some unpleasant news while in Hell, and I'm afraid I have to speak to my brother about it."

Her instinctive denial was hard to find with him standing in front of her like this, and all of the stories he'd told her about being the Devil swam across her memory. There'd always been so much pain in his voice when he talked about his father, so much anger, and yet he'd used his dying breaths to plead with that same father to protect her.

Chloe swallowed. "You promised you'd let me come alone."  

He smiled a little. "But I never promised not to follow you."

She'd tried so hard not to look at her feelings too closely, so certain that they would only complicate a situation that was already far too complicated as it was. But there was an ache in her chest from where her heart was stitching itself back together, and she'd just been handed irrefutable proof that she was far deeper in Lucifer's heart than she'd ever imagined.

Before she could think of all the reasons why she shouldn't, Chloe wrapped her fingers in the front of Lucifer's shirt and yanked him down for a kiss. He was frozen for a moment, giving her a sudden, horrible flashback to the time when she'd thrown herself at him and he'd stopped her, but then he melted and everything else got pushed aside. The heat was no surprise – she'd felt that even when she'd never wanted to see him again – but twined through it was a tenderness that made her chest hurt.

When they broke apart, he looked absolutely staggered. "Chloe...." he managed, the word almost awed, and she memorized the sound of it to counter the inevitable nightmare of hearing him say her name with his dying breath.

Now, though, she made herself take a step back. "I guess we have a lot to talk about, don't we?" She took Trixie's hand again, noticing that her daughter was now grinning up at her like she'd just suggested ice cream. "Now I'm going to take Trixie home and figure out how to sneak the money back into evidence. You do whatever it is you have to do with your brother."

Lucifer stayed rooted to the spot as she and Trixie grabbed the money and got in the car, and it was only when she went for her keys that Chloe realized her hands were shaking. Trixie shut her door, looking over at Lucifer as she buckled in her seat belt.

"He's still there," she said happily. "You must be a really good kisser."

Chloe couldn't help but breathe out a laugh, her hands steadier as she started the car. "So is he."

Trixie grinned as they pulled out of the hangar. "Now all we have to do is get him more used to hugs."


	2. Chapter 2

Amenadiel had been correct in saying that fear was a new thing for Lucifer, and he highly disliked it. Being worried for himself would have been bad enough, but the depth of fear that kept emerging every time he thought about what would happen if his mother took an interest in Chloe and Trixie was considerably more traumatizing. If he was being sensible, he’d find some way to safely remove them both from the equation entirely.

But previous experience had already shown that what sense he did have disappeared when it came to Detective Chloe Decker. And that was before she’d kissed him, reaching straight into whatever was left of his soul via what he had previously considered to be nothing more than a pleasant recreational activity. She’d shaken him, in an utterly different way than the news about his mother had. 

And so, after he and Amenadiel had made all the plans that could possibly be made at the moment, he was stepping from the darkness outside into the warmth and light of Chloe's home.

"Trixie's asleep," Chloe said, shutting the door behind him. "I've made it clear she absolutely can't talk about the fact that she knows an angel with her classmates." She smiled a little. "They'd probably be fine with it, but I don't want to deal with the calls I'd get from the teacher."

Lucifer was thrown by the nonchalance, having expected a full interrogation the moment he stepped through the door. "No incredulous list of questions? No insistence on a demonstration?"

Her eyes narrowed. "You already demonstrated just fine earlier by _dying_ , thank you very much." Then she sighed. "And by lifting one suspect in the air by his neck, and throwing another one through a glass wall, and scaring the third into a mental institution."

She sounded tired, but Lucifer braced himself for it to turn into something worse at any moment. "I did tell you," he said quietly. "Repeatedly."

She gave him that familiar fondly exasperated look, making his chest clench. "How many people actually _believe_ you when you tell them that?" Then her expression sobered. "And you were wrong about being invulnerable, which you shouldn't have been if you really are the Biblical Lucifer. Did you ever find out what happened?"

Lucifer froze. Here was the perfect opportunity to explain the whole "I can only get injured if I'm within your general vicinity" situation, and there was a reasonable chance she would even believe him. If she did, however, there were only two options – she would either be worried constantly, or she would stay away from him as some sort of ridiculous protective measure. That might also keep _her_ safer, but only if his mother didn't find out about her through some other means. Then she'd simply be left exposed.

And that didn't take into account the most important fact, that he simply didn't want to let her go. "It's ... complicated."

She folded her arms across her chest, her expression making it clear that she knew he was trying to evade the question. "We have plenty of time. Feel free to make the explanation as long as you'd like."

Knowing another evasion would only make her more suspicious, he neatly sidestepped. "Okay, it's not that complicated. The truth is that I don't know exactly what's causing it, but I'm looking into it." It wasn't even a lie – he knew that Chloe was the one making him injurable, but he had no idea _why_.

Her brow lowered, but it was with worry this time instead of suspicion. "Is there someone you can ask?"

He started to say no, then remembered that Amenadiel was no longer deeply invested in sending him back Hell. There was a chance, albeit a small one, that his brother might actually have some insight into the matter. "Possibly." He saw the worry on her face ease a little, and he started to realize that the proverbial other shoe he was waiting for wasn't coming. “You seem to be taking all of this rather  well.”

Chloe threw her hands up in the air. “In the past 24 hours, my daughter was kidnapped, you were _killed_ , my ex-husband told me he lied to me, let me think I was crazy, and then turned himself in to clear your name, _and_ I had to save you from a manhunt after you nearly made me watch you get yourself shot _for no reason_." She jabbed a chiding finger in his direction to emphasize that last point. "The fact that you’re … supernatural or something doesn’t rank all that high on the list.”

That... that couldn't be right. Maybe she still hadn't processed the full depth of the situation. “But I’m not just supernatural. I’m the _Devil_. Beelzebub, The Evil One, Father of Lies—“

She cut him off with a gesture. “No, what you are is irrefutable proof that ‘The Devil’—“ she made the finger quotes “—really is nothing more than mankind being evil to each other. I can see you tempting people into smoking weed or having orgies, but there’s no way you would ever encourage anyone to hurt an innocent.” The words held nothing but absolute confidence, as if she were stating one of the basic facts of the universe, and Lucifer lost the ability to breathe. “You punish evil, you don’t make it. The fact that people have spent the last several centuries saying you do must just be really shitty PR.”

It felt like there was a fist wrapped around his heart, making his chest hurt every time it beat. There was a part of him that still couldn't quite believe what he was hearing, that the words he'd waited millennia for were being handed to him as casually as someone might pass over a cup of coffee.

He forced his voice to work, the words little more than a croak. “So I’m….”

That caught her attention, and she met his gaze with a concerned look. “Lucifer Morningstar. My partner, club owner, self-sacrificial asshole, and proof that L.A. is more strange than even I ever realized." She crossed the distance between them, laying a hand over his heart. "You okay?"

His eyes burned, but it was with tears rather than hellfire. "You believe me."

"That you're _the_ Lucifer?" she asked gently. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"No, not—" He had to swallow, throat tight with something he was desperately afraid was hope. "You don't think I'm the bad guy."

Understanding lit her eyes, the same as it had all those weeks ago when he'd asked her not to touch his wing scars, immediately followed by the kind of pain that made it look like her heart was breaking for him. Belatedly, he realized that the fear he'd seen on her face when she'd tried to arrest him at the club maybe hadn't been _of_ him, but _for_ him.

“Of course I don't," she whispered, her own eyes wet. “I know you.”

The world held its breath for a moment, in honor of a miracle far more impossible than anything his Father had ever done. Then he bent down and offered up a kiss far more gentle than any he had given or received in all his life, his hands cradling her face and the last pieces of him she hadn't already had power over laid as an offering at her feet.

When they broke apart, he had to remind himself to breathe. “We haven’t talked about this part yet.”

She smiled a little. "Do we need to?"

"That depends." He stroked his thumb along the curve of her cheek. "Can we keep doing it?"

Her smile widened. "I think I could be persuaded." Then she pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Trixie said we need to get you used to hugs, too," she murmured.

 Lucifer pressed his face against her hair, feeling like he was flying for the first time in a millennia.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, um, this is going to be four chapters now. Sorry?

Her mother always said a date that didn't end in sex, jewelry or a role was wasted, but as the night stretched on Chloe considered it yet more proof that her mother was wrong. They were both too vulnerable to consider sex – the fact that Lucifer didn't even try for a leer was proof of that – but she wasn't looking forward to letting him leave. He seemed just as reluctant to go, and so they ended up on the couch talking.

That, and introducing Lucifer to the concept of cuddling.

"This is oddly pleasant, despite the fact that we're still fully clothed." Lucifer's voice was light, the body under Chloe's cheek slowly relaxing with every breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his lips curve upward a little. "It does help that you're conscious, I would imagine."

She smirked, patting his stomach. Her hand kept moving to the spot he'd been shot, reminding herself that there was only solid, unbroken muscle. "Feel free to get drunk and pass out on my shoulder next time."

"Sorry, darling, but the Dev— I don't get drunk." There was the smallest catch in Lucifer's voice as he corrected himself, and she slid her arm further around his middle and gave him a gentle squeeze. His smile softened, stroking a hand over her hair. "I'll have to find another excuse to end up with my head on your shoulder."

She smiled. "You're welcome to it, though I'd prefer it if you were conscious."

"I'll do my best." Then he sighed. "There will be times when I'm unavailable, though. The issue Amenadiel and I have to deal with is unfortunately rather urgent."

"It sounded that way." Chloe shifted so she could see his expression better. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

He hesitated. "I'm rather invested in you not dying."

Alarmed, she pushed herself up enough that she could look him in the face. "Well, I'm rather invested in _you_ not dying, so I'm going to need some more details."

Lucifer opened his mouth, as if he was about to say something, then closed it again and gave her a long look. "My mother escaped Hell," he said finally, as if he was bracing himself. "Father sent me back so I could find her and ... collect her."

Chloe's eyes widened as her imagination trying to visualize someone awful enough that a God as callous as Lucifer's father seemed to be would be that interested in getting her back. "Why is—" She cut the question off when she saw Lucifer's expression start to shut down, then let out a breath. "I can run some searches, if you tell me what to look for," she said finally. "Even if she doesn't try to take an identity, there might be missing persons cases or something else we can use to trail her."

Something that looked like real fear flickered in his eyes, and Chloe could feel an echo of through her chest. "She can't know about you and Trixie. No help you could give me would be worth that."

The idea of Trixie being at risk was a cold weight in her stomach, and she nodded solemnly before giving him a soft kiss. "She won't." She laid her head back against Lucifer's chest, positioning herself so she could feel his heartbeat underneath her cheek. "I'll have to be careful, anyway. I returned the money and filed a report on shooting Malcolm, but especially so soon after Dan I'm sure there'll be questions."

"Of course you would insist on being honest." There was fond resignation in his voice, along with what sounded almost like relief that they were moving onto a different topic. "I'll stop by the station in the morning, explain to your captain at how entirely reasonable and essential all your actions were." He paused. "Perhaps I'll put in a good word for your ex-husband as well."

Chloe's throat tightened, touched. She and Dan would have been firmly over even if there had been no Lucifer in her life, but she didn't like the idea of Trixie growing up with a father in jail. "How anyone could ever believe you were heartless, I'll never know."

"Billions of people have managed it somehow," he said quietly.

"Well, billions of people are clearly idiots." She breathed him in, angry at everyone who had ever hurt Lucifer. Churches were clearly at least partially to blame, but God was clearly the worst of—

Horrified realization hit, making her shoot upright again. "The wings," she breathed, remembering. "They really _were_ yours."

Lucifer's confusion slowly shifted into slightly sad amusement. "Nice to see you finally on board, Detective."

"Don't call me that." She kissed him again until the tension left his shoulders.

When the broke apart, his expression had eased again. "Feel free to punish me like that whenever you'd like." His lips curved upward. "Though in this case, Chloe, consider me duly chastened."

"Good." She laid her head back against his chest. She thought again about him pleading with his Father to protect her, about all the pain and resentment he'd been willing to overlook for her sake. She couldn't even imagine it. "I'm sorry for everything you lost," she said softly. "But I'm glad you're here with me."

After a moment, she felt the press of lips against her hair. "So am I."

000

She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but when she opened her eyes the next morning she and Lucifer were both still wrapped around each other on the couch. Surprisingly, Trixie had also added herself to the pile at some point, her head on Chloe's hip and the rest of her body draped across their legs.

Lucifer woke up a moment later, taking in the scene with an awkwardness that didn't quite hide his pleasure. "I have to say, this is considerably different than the last time I woke up under a pile of people," he murmured, low enough not to wake Trixie.

"Hush." She shoved at him even as she felt her lips curve upward. "If you make Trixie ask uncomfortable questions I can't let you answer, I'm going to end up punishing you with _no_ kisses."

Before he could respond, Trixie woke up. "Sleepovers are fun," she said happily, climbing off them before coming over to kiss both Chloe and Lucifer good morning.

"Yes, they are," Chloe said, melting a little at how flustered Lucifer looked by the kiss. She scanned her daughter's face, looking for any sign of sleeplessness. "Did you have a nightmare, baby?"

"No. I was just getting some water and you guys looked comfy." She started tugging on Lucifer's hand. "Time to wake up, though. You need to make bacon."

"Well, then." Lucifer looked almost wondering, which just made Chloe melt that much more. "It seems as though I've been commanded."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely the last chapter, I promise. (Though I can't promise there won't be a sequel at some point - okay, possibly many sequels - so consider this your warning.)

Seeing Chloe and Trixie off that morning had been oddly, wonderfully surreal, as if he'd stolen a scene meant for some mortal. He’d been at Chloe’s at approximately the same time, but he’d either been an observer or an annoyance that Chloe had been trying to shoo out. He hadn’t been a _part_ of it, showing his mastery over bacon and questioning Trixie about what children actually did with themselves all day while Chloe shouted over the phone at Trixie’s principal for yesterday’s fiasco.

Lucifer considered paying a visit to the man himself – anyone who would allow a child to leave with someone like Malcolm deserved to suffer a little – but the panicked screaming that would inevitably follow if they ever ran into each other again might prove to be awkward. He had to think about that sort of thing now, if he wanted to keep being allowed here like this.

And he did, in a way he hadn’t allowed himself to truly want anything in a very long time.

Chloe finally hung up the phone, scrubbing her hands over her face. “Sorry.” She let out a breath, putting on a deliberately cheerful expression. “Are you two having fun?”

Trixie nodded, swallowing a mouthful of bacon. “I’m trying to explain math tests to him.”

“Horrible things.” Lucifer shook his head, letting his voice take on its usual theatrical edge. “Phones take care of all of that for you. There’s no need to overwork their tiny brains when there’s all that lovely technology available to do the math for them.”

Trixie grinned and held up a hand for a fist-bump – there had been a solid 10 minutes of explanation on that alone – which Lucifer returned while Chloe shook her head. “Remind me to never let you anywhere near parent-teacher night.” Still, her lips curved upward as she pressed a kiss against his cheek, and the warmth of it lingered even when she moved to the cupboard. “I’ll get started on the eggs.”

000

He followed Chloe to the station to nudge her captain in the proper direction, then stopped by Lux for a change of clothes before meeting up with Amenadiel. When he got there Maze was sitting at the bar, a glass and a half-empty bottle of vodka next to her. She was wearing what Lucifer had always thought of as her “hunting clothes,” but the look on her face was clearly troubled as she refilled the glass.

Telling himself he was merely being practical – if she was feeling like stabbing him for some reason, it was probably best that he know about it – Lucifer moved towards her. “Have fun?” he asked lightly, gesturing to the clothes.

That, at least, brought out a smirk. “If your little detective finds the bodies of some would-be rapists missing their dicks, have her call me.”

“Actually, I think I’m going to specifically avoid doing that.” Grabbing his own glass from behind the bar, he moved around to pour himself some vodka as well. “Though I did wonder where you’d disappeared to after you’d saved my annoying brother.”

Her expression immediately sobered, and she downed her whole glass at once before yanking the bottle back from him. “Don’t remind me.”

Intrigued, Lucifer studied her for a moment. “You don’t have another feather tucked away somewhere, do you?” he asked finally, though her expression had already told him the answer. “That was your only one.”

Her eyes widened as her head snapped around to stare at him. “I never—“

He waved away the denial. He’d guessed, but he hadn’t known for certain until she’d said she would take care of healing Amenadiel. “I practically left them there for you. I would have done the same thing in your place.”

Her expression turned rueful. “Scavenged a feather, or wasted it on an arrogant, stick-in-the-mud angel?”

Lucifer considered the question far more honestly than he would have a year ago. “Both, probably.” He took a drink, leaning against the bar as he watched Maze’s gaze shift to something that clearly wasn’t in the room. There was something oddly familiar in her expression, but for the life of him he couldn’t quite place it.

Then she sighed, closing her eyes. “I pet his forehead,” she muttered.

Lucifer blinked, certain he hadn’t heard right. “What?”

Maze opened her eyes, annoyance flooding her expression. “I pet his forehead,” she snapped, slamming a hand against the bar. “He was so weak after the feather he fell asleep almost instantly, and he looked so… It was just… I….” She gave up trying to explain, lips pressing together. “I immediately went out and started killing things in the hopes that it would make it go away,” she said finally, voice tight. “But it _didn’t_.”

Ah. It wasn’t the surprise it probably should have been, though it did explain why her expression had looked so familiar. It had probably been on his own face, more than once.  “As I said, looks like I’m not the only one who’s changing.”

Maze grimaced. “How do you handle it? This … _caring_.” She made a dismissive gesture as if she could physically push the words away, her tone one might normally use when discussing feces or Christian folk musicians. “It’s _horrible_.”

“It does get less horrible, eventually.” Lucifer took another drink, thinking about the mighty Amenadiel humbled with guilt at the thought of having used Maze. It was entirely possible they were all about to stumble into some sort of ridiculous romantic comedy, at least if his mother didn’t murder them all first.

Now, though, didn’t seem like the safest time to share that particular thought with Maze. “I can offer you my therapist, if you’d like,” he said instead. “She’s a bit simple at times, but she’s not bad in bed and can be wonderfully useful when you’re working out a problem.”

Maze sighed. “I’m already seeing her.”

Okay, _that_ was unexpected. “Well, then how about I distract you with news that my mother’s escaped from Hell?”

That got quite a reaction, and everything else was forgotten for a moment as she insisted he tell her the whole story. She threw the glass at his head when he told her about dying, and though he edited the parts with Chloe Maze still looked resigned at what he did say.

“At least she’s less useless than I’d previously thought.” Maze pushed herself away from the bar. “Besides, Trixie would be upset if I did anything to her mother.” She moved past him, turning around only when she realized he wasn’t following. “Are you coming? We need to start tracking your mother down.”

He followed, deciding not to mention that they would be meeting up with Amenadiel. Not only would it be more entertaining to watch that way, but it would be a more interesting story to tell Chloe later.

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my new original fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)


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